Koh Mak is a small tropical island in the eastern Gulf of Thailand, close to Cambodia. We travelled to this island in November 2017 and stayed much longer than expected. I’ve seen many more Thai islands and I must say: Koh Mak is my favourite of all! The island is a well-kept secret for most travellers, it’s (still) a quiet place with a laid-back atmosphere. It’s located south of ‘big brother’ Koh Chang, and north of Koh Kood – they all are completely different!

What we most love about this island is that it’s relatively undeveloped. You might be able to get cash at a resort – but no guarantees – and there are no 7-elevens anywhere on the island (is that even possible in Thailand?!). Koh Mak is privately owned and therefore nobody is allowed to build more resorts, how fantastic?! And although there are many rubber farm plantations, you can still find lots of palm trees. The best part of Koh Mak though: gorgeous, empty beaches!

Koh Mak is located about 40 kilometres away from mainland Thailand (Trat) and 300 kilometres from Bangkok. From Bangkok you can take a minivan to Trat and take a taxi to the pier. You can even take a minivan directly to the pier. From the Laem Ngop pier in Trat, you can take the slow boat (cheap but slow) or a speedboat (fast but more expensive) to Koh Mak. Be sure to look up the time schedule of the boats! During low season there are less or no boats at all going to Koh Mak. There are also boats going from Koh Chang, Koh Wai and Koh Kood to Koh Mak.